The SEC is known to churn out running backs like a conveyer belt that has no off switch.
Some teams know who will get the lions’ share of the carries, but which teams don’t have to think twice about turning around and handing it to someone else?
We look at the top teams with a Plan B (or in some cases even a Plan C) in the backfield:
1. Georgia
First-year coach Kirby Smart recently revealed his philosophy on the “workhorse” running back, and he’s opposed to it. Smart pointed out the toll that the SEC takes on running backs. Of course, he’s a first-hand witness to that as stud RB Nick Chubb continues his rehab.
Smart even went as far as to say that the position is currently “the scariest” on the team, but assuming Chubb’s rehab continues to progress, the silver lining is he has the best No. 2 back in the conference.
Sony Michel, entering his junior season, is coming off a campaign in which he put up big numbers with few opportunities. Despite just six starts, Michel ran for 1,161 yards and 8 TDs and caught 26 passes for 270 yards and 3 TDs. His 110.1 yards from scrimmage per game ranked sixth in the SEC.
The same game that Chubb went down on Oct. 10 against Tennessee, Michel stepped in and carried the rock 22 times for 145 yards, including this 66-yarder that featured three nasty cuts and a stiff-arm.
That was one of four 100-yard efforts in the team’s final eight games, including a season-high 165 yards against Kentucky on Nov. 7.
In Michel, Georgia has a player who’s proven himself to be a potential No. 1 back on the majority of other Division I programs.
2. Tennessee
Tennessee’s running back position is also scary, but in a very different way than Smart intended. The Vols will have one of the best one-two punches in the entire country this season with junior Jalen Hurd and redshirt junior Alvin Kamara.
Last season in the SEC, Tennessee was second only to LSU in rushing with an average of 223.7 yards per game. “Run CMG” or “Chain Moving Gang,” combined for almost 2,500 yards from scrimmage (2,467) with 24 TDs last season.
Hurd made the All-SEC team last season and will likely be the No. 1 back yet again. However, the Vols’ No. 2 in Kamara is one of the biggest threats at the position in the conference. He averaged exactly 7.0 yards from scrimmage per touch last season, best among all backs in the league. Not bad for a No. 2.
3. LSU
LSU finished seventh in the FBS in rushing, mainly thanks to Leonard Fournette. However, Derrius Guice did manage to upstage him for one game, which isn’t easy to do. Guice ran for 161 yards while Fournette went for 158 against South Carolina on Oct. 10.
The Tigers’ two-headed monster marked just the second time in school history that LSU had two running backs rush for more than 150 yards in a game. The other time was Sept. 7, 1996, against Houston when Kevin Faulk and Rondell Mealey rushed for 246 and 161 yards, respectively.
Guice got his 161 yards on just 16 rushes, averaging 10.1 yards a carry. It wasn’t like an enormous chunk of it came on one play as his longest run was 39 yards.
Guice also returned kicks for LSU last season and averaged 12.4 all-purpose yards per play, the best among running backs and fourth among all players in the SEC. He’s a perfect compliment to Fournette and should play a bigger role as a change-of-pace back this season.
4. Alabama
As we get to No. 4, we get into territory that includes more unproven commodities. However, you can bank on Alabama running backs, in general, from year-to-year. Maybe more so than anything else in college football.
Sophomores Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough will battle it out in spring practice as they represent the next wave to step in for departed Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake.
Nick Saban liked what he saw as of Monday. Last season, Harris got significantly more carries with 46 compared to Scarbrough’s 18 since Scarbrough was suspended for the first four games while also coming off a torn ACL.
Here’s a look at Scarbrough, the five-star prospect out of Tuscaloosa, in mop-up duty against Michigan State in the CFP semifinal, mopping up a couple defenders.
At 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, Scarbrough fits the mold of what the Tide are looking for in a starting running back. He displayed good burst and shiftiness for his size while clearly demonstrating his physicality.
Of course, Harris is also a five-star prospect and was the No. 1 back in the class of 2015.
When touted 2016 recruit B.J. Emmons gets on campus, he’ll have a chance to see the field as the Tide only have a combined 69 carries from the rest of the its backs on scholarship.
5. Florida
Another pair of sophomores, both Jordans, should give Florida some good depth at running back this season. Jordan Scarlett and Jordan Cronkrite will be in the mix for the starting job.
Meanwhile, there’s a lot of excitement surrounding four-star RB Mark Thompson, the No. 1-rated junior college RB.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Thompson hails from Dodge City Community College, which sent three players to SEC schools this offseason, including WR Jeff George and CB Desmond Henderson, who were both picked up by Tennessee. Dodge City CC is also home to ILB Gary Johnson, the No. 1-rated junior college ILB for 2017, who is committed to Alabama.
Here’s a look at some of his highlights with the Conquistadors from last season.
Cronkrite showed more pass-catching ability last season, while Scarlett displayed more explosiveness. However, neither really wowed enough behind Kelvin Taylor to give a sense of who might have the clear edge to start. A lot of that fell on a struggling offensive line.
Still, Florida could have a good, and versatile, three-man rotation on its hands.
6. Arkansas
Like Florida fans are eager to see Thompson, Arkansas is equally excited to see Devwah Whaley, the No. 3 running back in the Class of 2016. The 6-foot, 205-pound signee out of Beaumont, Texas, is the highest-profile back recruited in Bret Bielema’s tenure in Fayetteville.
Arkansas uses multiple running backs as a staple in its offensive system, so regardless of first-string or second-string, carries will be abundant for both. Still, the starting running back will likely be sophomore Rawleigh Williams III, who had 56 carries for 254 yards and a TD in his freshman campaign.
Williams began to show real promise in games against Texas A&M (8 carries, 46 yards, TD) and Tennessee (14 carries, 100 yards) before being sidelined for the season with a neck injury against Auburn in Week 8.
Technically, Whaley may even start 2016 as the third-string back because the Razorbacks got awesome news that bulldozer Kody Walker would be returning for his sixth and final season. The 6-foot-2, 256-pounder was second on the team with 90 carries for 394 yards and 6 TDs last season.
Ideally, Arkansas will be confident in handing any one of these three the ball. However, Williams’ recovery from a career-threatening injury and Whaley living up to the hype will have to be answered.
7. Auburn
Senior Jovon Robinson will be the man on The Plains, and he’ll have some help from junior Roc Thomas and sophomore Kerryon Johnson.
Last season, Robinson returned to the team in the eighth game and finished the year strong, falling just a few yards shy of posting 100-yard games in five of the team’s final six games behind some hard-nosed running.
Thomas (43 carries for 261 yards, TD in 2015) and Johnson (52 carries, 208 yards, 3 TDs) have plenty to prove as viable second and third options, but they do have experience under their belts and a promising new position coach.
Former Tigers player Kodi Burns left Arizona State after just one month to join his alma mater as an assistant coach. He played for the school from 2007-10, winning a national championship with the team in his final season with Gus Malzahn as the offensive coordinator at the time.
8. Kentucky
Boom can take breathers.
Stanley “Boom” Williams was underrated last season, and the same can be said for Jojo Kemp. The two Wildcats ranked as two of the top seven in the SEC in yards per carry with Williams ranking second only to Guice (7.1) and Kemp checking in at seventh (5.7).
Against Charlotte on Nov. 21, Kemp averaged 15 yards per carry, the highest average for any Kentucky player in a single game over the last 30 seasons (minimum 11 carries).
Together, Williams and Kemp spearheaded a rushing attack that averaged 4.7 yards per carry, the school’s best mark since 1987. What do they have in store for 2016?
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
